Yes, a big part of the problem is that so so many words need editing.
I updated to ios17 excited about the new transformer model, and it still predicts absolute BS words I’ve never used in my life.
I definitely remember typing working better on my iPhone 5 which was 20% smaller so I don’t know what’s gone wrong, but it’s gone really wrong and the fixes also suck.
I had the first SE, and it initially handled mixed language text correction phenomenally, but went downhill with each update, which was really puzzling
I agree although I have never used a Blackberry. I have used a dozen of smart phone models in the early 2000s, either with physical keyboards or resistive touch. And then the iphone came and everybody moved to capacitive touch. It might have some advantages, but precise working is not one of them. I still hate it 15 years later what shitty products we have to use despite of all engineering efforts buried in them.
Remember T9? I haven't much experience with it—I'm young. But it was a much more pleasant experience than the current experience with touch screen. Swiping works, but I feel it requires too much cognitive energy. As soon as a conversation is taking longer than this paragraph, I tend to call the person instead.
You could literally type the message without taking the phone out of the pocket because it was extremely predictable and you knew the menu structure by the gut.
I tried t9 when I in the name of simplicity went for a Nokia candy bar. It was utter shit. I think it only worked because there was no good alternatives back then.
Agreed I remember being faster than my friends who preferred the “abc” mode. Not sure if all phones did this but my phones would sort the words by frequency of use for each combination of button presses so T9 kept getting faster the more I used it.
This. Ever since I lost the physical keyboard of the blackberry, I have had to accept to live with a significant and constant productivity hit when it comes to writing more than a couple of words on my touchscreen phones with the need to avoid typing errors. I failed to master the act of writing on a cellphone, contrary to typing on a physical keyboard.
I have seen people type blazingly fast on touchscreen phones though, albeit I didn't run error stats on their output. I accept that I may lack some skills needed to become better at this, but seeing others highlighting that this is a problem to them is not surprising to me, based on anecdotal evidence.
E.g., I knew someone who added to his email signature a permanent apology for typing errors giving the justification that he was typing on a touchscreen device.
All in all, I agree that the problem is real, and havging had experience with a working solution (physical keyboard) I wonder why there appears to be no business case today for such devices.
That looks pretty cool, and others must’ve thought that as well because it’s sold out.
Some of the immediate things that came to mind were making a case that integrates the phone with the keyboard; and a small battery to extend the life of the phone since the keyboard adds to the formfactor anyway.
Bonus points if this creates a market for a small phone again (iphone 12 user here).
The way cursor movement by touch was implemented on BB10 Wwas also the best I've ever used on mobile. Some kind of adaptive zoom and tap to move by one position.
The tactile feedback of real keys was so much better than haptic screens.